Levels of mental ill health amongst young people (12-25) in South Cumbria, and waiting lists for services, are continuing to increase (including as a result of Covid 19). Half of the young people in South Lakeland who responded to a recent (January 21) survey by Tim Farron MP described their mental health as ‘poor’ and almost three quarters of those under 20 said their mental health was worse than last year because of uncertainties about the future. The Cumbria Revealed report (Cumbria Community Foundation) also states that 1 in 10 children in Cumbria are estimated to have emotional and wellbeing problems and that hospital admissions for mental health issues and self-harm are at a higher rate in Cumbria than nationally.
Wave Forward addresses this by providing new opportunities for early intervention / prevention that proactively engage young people and empower them to improve their own wellbeing and that of their peers. Wave Forward also raises awareness and understanding of mental health and promotes opportunities to improve wellbeing to challenge myths and overcome the stigma and discrimination that prevents young people from receiving the support they need to fulfil their potential.
Young people have confirmed that by working with them to address the needs and opportunities they have identified that we have successfully equipped and empowered them to improve their own mental health and support their peers and thereby to make positive choices about their future.
I took part in the discovery programme after it was offered to us by our school. At first, I was a bit unsure of it, but now I realise I had nothing to be worried about as it was a brilliant experience. The activity days were fun as it pushed me to do things that I never thought I can do. This programme helped me to build skills to build up positive wellbeing. Some points of the course worried me slightly, but only because it pushed me out of my comfort zone so that I could achieve more than I thought I could at the beginning of the course. I would highly recommend it to any young person looking into it.
Participant
Wave Forward equips and empowers young people (12 to 25) across South Lakeland to improve their own mental health, support their peers, and thereby achieve their potential by
running activities, campaigns, and events to engage young people and the wider community, raise awareness and understanding of mental health, and promote wellbeing
We recruited a Communications and Fundraising Coordinator in June and have established a team of Wellbeing Ambassadors at Kirkbie Kendal to support younger students, worked with the Knotted Project to secure Arts Council funding to enable young people to share their experiences of mental health through drama, dance, music etc, and established a regular programme of events including the Mental Health Mile
delivering 12-week discovery programmes so young people can improve their own mental health and then support others
We successfully delivered our first Discovery Programme with Kirkbie Kendal (in partnership with Brathay, Growing Well, National Trust, Rookhow, Wood Matters, the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trusts and independent instructors / therapists - mindfulness, yoga etc) in June and July. Subsequently we have secured funding from the Community Foundation to repeat this annually at Kirkbie Kendal for the next 3 years, further funding through Cumbria Youth Alliance from the CCG to run a programme for young people whose mental health has been negatively impacted by Covid, and partial funding from the Cumbria Police and Crime Commissioner for an additional programme at Queen Katherine.
providing counselling for young people (currently over 16 or under 25) experiencing poor mental health and particularly those whose needs are not fully met by other services
We have appointed a Counselling Coordinator and recruited counsellors (Northern Guild, University of Cumbria and UCLAN placement students and fully qualified) and are delivering counselling for young people in partnership with Captain French Surgery and Kirkbie Kendal and plan to expand this to include South Lakes Carers and Kendal College soon.
